I had a similar situation and installed process lasso,
http://www.bitsum.com/prolasso.php
Using this program I was able to assign different apps to specific cores. This made all cores run much more even and smooth. Workstation runs much better.
Example
Core 0- Esignal, IB TWS...
I run Astaro Firewall on perimter that handles all firewall, intrusion detection and virus scans. Locally I have windows firewall with nod32 and prevx. Never haveany issues with this setup.
Was using a pretty decent firewall (Sofaware 500P) but noticed the more rules I added and inspected the more delay it caused on my connection. I use 50mpbs FIOS and wanted to ensure no delay and maximum bandwidth with top notch security.
Astaro Firewall is my new firewall and was FREE...
I have been running Windows 7 RC on my laptop and must say it's very nice. I loaded the OS on a solid state drive (Intel X-25M) and it just moves soo quick. So far no issues with drivers. Most Vista drivers will work for Windows 7. Esignal and quotetracker both work. I considering...
Hey bellman. If you right click on the tray icon and go to program settings. Under the Update(Basic) then details you have control on the popups etc. Makes avast silent and disables the update sliding box.